Rally Builds Amid Signs Of European And Chinese Growth

ORIGINAL (4:54 AM ET): There's some
universally positive data out of Europe and China today, and
early in European trading markets are fighting for narrow gains.
Asian markets closed mixed, the German DAX is up 0.31% and the
French CAC is up 0.16%. Futures are also slightly higher in U.S.
markets.

Those numbers may be most bullish in Europe, where services
purchasing managers indices suggest expanding economic activity
in Germany and France hitting seven- and five-month highs,
respectively, according to Marketwatch. While activity is still
contracting in Italy, Ireland, and Spain, even those datapoints
improved in January. Check out this graph from Markit:

That said, retail sales just came in weaker than expected for the
eurozone, unexplectedly falling -0.4% in December when
expectations were for +0.3%. That's the second consecutive month
of contraction.

In China, the HSBC services purchasing managers index held
steady at 52.5 in January, indicating that economic expansion
continues in the services sector.

While manufacturing and services PMI numbers still indicate slowing growth in
China compared to recent years, another steady services datapoint
could refute worries that the country's economy will slow
considerably in a "hard landing." Check out this graph from
Markit:

UPDATE: The rally is really starting to
gain some steam here. The DAX is now up by +0.36% and the CAC is
rallying +0.48%. Yields on Italian and Spanish bonds are
virtually unchanged from yesterday, still at their lowest levels
in months.

U.S. futures are all safely in the green, indicating a higher
open. But we'll have to wait for unemployment data to come out at
8:30 AM ET to see if this rally will hold up.